Chronic Social Problems In Meredith Blanco's 'Who Are'

These days there are a number of social issues in the community, such as drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse is rampant in today’s society, Australian Drug Foundation states that, “Alcohol is the most widely used psychoactive, or mood-changing, recreational drug in Australia.”(Healey, 2002, p. 11). Underage drinking and binge drinking are some of the problems associated with alcohol abuse.

Primarily, Sanders obtains the trust of the audience by establishing a common struggle. The intended audience of Sanders’ essay includes the sons or daughters of alcoholic parents. By sharing his personal testimony, Sanders reveals to the audience to have experienced the same

Many people across the world suffer from alcoholism, a family disease. It is called a family disease because the addiction harms the alcoholic, and everyone who has to live with them. Children consistently suffer when they share a house with an alcoholic. Unfortunately, alcoholism is common and many children find themselves in this situation. The emotional and psychological scars that children can develop in alcoholic homes can be so deep that they can last well into adulthood. Youth who grew up in an alcoholic home can develop similar personality traits and characteristics. Approximately 26.8 million children are exposed to alcoholism in the family and 6.6 million children 18 and younger live in households with at least one alcoholic

Alcohol has always been one of the most profitable industries in the business world. More than $400 billion worth of alcohol purchased in the US alone in 2013 according to an economic website. Alcohol is a common figure where it can be easily spot in every household to grand restaurants, however, it is a huge factor contributed to the death rate each year. It has ruined an innumerable number of people lives due to excessive drinking or affect by an alcoholic person. In his book, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, Sherman Alexie emphasizes how significance alcohol can affect a teenager life, where Junior, the main protagonist has lost 3 family members because of alcohol. He shows that alcoholic should not be taken as a

“Alcohol addiction stunts the spiritual, emotional and mental growth of a person”~Anonymous. Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, is a book based off the author’s teenage life. The novel is about a poor 14 year old named Junior who faced numerous challenges in his life. Junior has experienced bullying, he was called a traitor for following his dreams, got in a huge fight with his best friend and lost three very important people in his life because of alcohol. Fortunately in the end, Junior got through the pain and lived on but he learned many lessons. One of the lessons Junior learned was that the fall into addiction, in this situation alcohol, leads to a great deal of misery for the individual and those

I decided to write my final paper on Koren Zailckas Smashed: A Story of a Drunken Girlhood. A memoir based on a young 14 year old girl who drinks for the first time with her friend Natalie before a birthday party. Her experiences with alcohol doesn’t stop there. We learn that she gets her stomach pumped at age 16, and at age 22, wakes up in an apartment in New York City unsure of where she is, because of alcohol. After this, she realizes that she has a problem and that she needs help. I chose this book as the topic of underage drinking and alcohol abuse is constantly rising in our society today. It is a problem that many youth kids are facing, and this book perfectly describes a young girls story about her addiction with alcohol and the many poor decisions she makes.

When an alcoholic is alone, the drinking can be done the way he/she wants to

Similarly, Sanders represents the seriousness of the effects of alcohol through medical statistics when he states, “I knew the odds of my becoming an alcoholic were four times higher than for the sons of nonalcoholic fathers. So I slipped warily,” (Sanders, 150). This affirmation of a child of a drunk being more likely to become an alcoholic through a medical source allows Sanders to broaden the span of his story by using facts that not only affect him personally, but overall all children that are in a similar situation. His experiences are easy to relate to for many readers because he uses intelligent sources that strengthen his arguments. Ultimately, Sanders is able to better connect with readers from his story through the use of facts and references from medical journals.

If the family accomplishes to take care of the children properly by looking after them and checking their activities, then the drug addiction will not be able to harm children. The aim of writing this story is to help the parents and the family to understand that they are the primary institutions, which are directly involved in shaping the life of a person. Therefore, the family plays a strong role in both the Wes family, but one of them influences their child positively and the other influences their child negatively

Another considerable factor of this problem is the influence these substances have on children. Alcoholism in the home is an extremely hard issue to cope with as a child. Domestic violence, which is often worsened by alcohol abuse, causes a lot of mental issues that affect children permanently. Many kids do not have a stable home and are forced to see their parents and loved ones struggle with drinking (Hopkins 7). Suffering through the effects of drugs and alcohol also make education a challenge. Children often times stay home from school or are inattentive during class due to lack of sleep from late-night parties or rowdiness at home.This makes it almost impossible to succeed later in life and lets the problem continue onto the next generation.

A staggering 30% of U.S. adults have been or currently are alcoholics, and not all of them have abstained from parenthood. The essay “Under the Influence” by Russel Sanders tells the tale of a young boy who had an alcoholic father, who he could not understand why he was an alcoholic, except for the belief that he was possessed by demons. He didn’t live around any treatment centers that could help his father, for he lived in the backwoods of Ohio. He talked about the constant fear of his father beating him (which he never did), and the constant fear of his father leaving him (which he did for small increments of time). The trauma of having a father who was an alcoholic father stayed with Sanders well into adulthood.

One’s wellbeing is determined by physical and emotional health. In health sciences students learn about body and brain functioning. Emotions,stress and decision-making have a significant impact on mental and physical health. Alcoholism is often a coping mechanism resulting in negative health consequences. David Sedaris’ mother is probably and alcohol, and her addiction has a negative impact on herself and her family. A common trope in pop culture is the drink a mother or a father pour themselves after a long day to relieve some of the stress of a daily routine . In fact, many studied have shown that in moderation, alcohol can actually have health benefits. However, when one abuses alcohol, the consequences are oftentimes disastrous and the repercussions of alcohol abuse are longterm. In his essay ”Let it snow”, David Sedaris demonstrates the consequences of his mother’s alcoholism. The emotional, physical and long-term effects of alcoholism are central to his family’s health.

In this paper, I look at forms of substance abuse and the effects on children. I will be using the following headings to break down the different issues associated with this social problem: social causes, phenomenon, and consequences. I hope to educate those that may be ignorant to the situation, and help to spark a flame that can be used to not be a bystander, but a solution to the problem at hand.

When looking at parental addiction to alcohol, Sharon Wegcheider-Cruse developed a concept of certain behavioral roles that children of alcoholics take on in order to cope with the addiction issues of the parent which can often lead to emotional harm. Wegcheider-Cruse separates the behavioral roles into four distinct categories each with a different name comprising a hero, a scapegoat, a lost child, and a mascot. When a child takes on a “hero” behavioral role, they are often referred to as the “model child” and are known to take over the family responsibilities which the parents are not addressing. Although there are many positives to a young child taking on this role in the family, including becoming independent, being responsible, and often over achieving, there are many negative impacts made on the child’s emotional state and behavior as well. These negatives consist of having a fear of rejection, having feelings of low self worth, striving for perfection, ignoring

Sometimes that I learned about the article was, that some drug addict can be very harmful to children. Some kids are even scared to be around their own parents because of their drug addiction. It also talks about how kids are even afraid that their own schoolmates find out that their parents are drug addicts. Also, many drug addiction care about their families, but need or have the urge to feed their addiction so it seems that they don’t care but in reality they do. " Substance misuse may be one of a series of inter-related factors within a family, such as poverty or depression, so that disentangling exactly what causes poor outcomes for the child can be difficult,"(Hart 9 ). In other words, children do not really understand why their